Making a Career Switch
 

Hello pilot community - I'm sure there have been countless threads similar to this, but looking for some personalized advice (and validation) from a community of complete strangers.

I am very strongly considering walking away from my high-paying job in management consulting to pursue a career as a pilot. I'm currently 30 years old and have been working for a large, multinational consultancy for the past 2 years. Prior to that I worked as an operator at a nuclear facility, so I'm comfortable with the rigors of initial and recurrent training, systems and regulatory knowledge, procedure use and adherance, and the safety culture associated with the industry.

I live in Atlanta and am strongly considering the ATP Airline and Commercial Pilot training program for my training. I have 0 flight hours under my belt and will be 100% starting from scratch. I have a few friends who went through the program and recommend it as the best way to knock it all out at once and start working towards building hours.

My wife and I have been fortunate enough to save a considerable amount during our careers so far and I plan to self fund my way through the program. I know I'll be taking a huge step back in pay for the first 5-7 years of this new career, but I miss being in a nontraditional work environment with a schedule that is more flexible than a 60 hour M-F desk job.

My favorite part of being a consultant is getting on the plane every Monday morning and Thursday afternoon. I've always been fascinated with flying and now that I've got the financial resources to take the leap and my wife's blessing I'm ready to jump in. It seems daunting and like a huge risk, but I know I can put in the work to be successful.

I have an intro flight scheduled next Saturday and am anxiously awaiting the moment we take off. My questions to the group are:

1.) Am I crazy?
2.) Is ATP the best approach for someone in my situation?
3.) Will my background in nuclear help me? (not in direct knowledge, but in working style and approach to problem solving and decision making?)
4.) If I want to go the traditional route of Training->CFI/Time builder job->Regional->Major, is my timeline of 5-7 years to get there reasonable?
5.) What are other considerations that I may not have thought through?

No need to go to ATP.
There are enough opportunities to get picked up after you’ve completed your CPL/CFI.
I’d still recommend the CFI just because.
Find a local school you’re comfortable with and tell them the following:
You’re considering going all the way to your CFI but you’ll make the decision where and how to continue after every rating.
Don’t make the assumption you’ll be picked up by a Major.
No guarantees....

Yes. Whether military or civilian, that background will lend itself well to the technical training, decision making, and regulatory/procedural aspects of aviation. Still have to walk and chew gum though.

Yes, given current and known future industry conditions. Assumes a clean background, good performance in aviation training, and a reasonable college GPA. Otherwise it might take longer to the majors. Also assumes aggressive career progression, ie no kicking back and enjoying your seniority when you're eligible for the next step.

Airline aviation looks pretty rosy for the near future, probably better than any other time in history. But the industry is fragile, so keep in the back of your mind that things could go to hell in a hand basket pretty quickly. Great potential rewards but there is some risk too.

ATP is known to be hard on folks who don't have a lot of initiative and survival instinct. You should be able to handle it but make sure they don't set you up for unnecessary checkride failures.

I would seriously get a private pilot cert before quitting your job and going all in. Make sure you like it and have an aptitude. Get some advice from a younger professional pilot about checkrides, don't want to fail your private at some local yokel FBO because you don't know what you don't know.

Grades should be good. 4 year degree and 3.3 Overall GPA from Georgia Tech

That's fine, especially if it's technical.

Keep your day job and obtain your private pilot and instrument rating from a local school (not ATP). If you have the aptitude, then consider moving forward with the career change. It's better to find out in this stage before you make any drastic changes or hand someone like ATP a large chunk of cash which you may see very little of if you decide to bail halfway through their program.

Flying isn't rocket science but it takes a certain skill set. As the other poster mentioned, there are no guarantees.

All of the above ^^^
You could even do your Private and your IR part time.
It’s not going to matter much as long as you fly 3-4 times a week to keep the continuity going.

My problem is that with my current job the likelihood of being able to get away from work early enough to do any training during the week is going to difficult if not impossible, especially outside of the summer when the days are longer.

There seems to be two camps:

-Rip the bandaid off and go for it
-see if it’s for you and jump in if you decide it’s what you want to do long term

Best solution for me might be The latter. If I can do my private this summer to see if I’ve “got it” or not, and then really take the plunge if I’m really into it. Still a risk, but much more metered.

You’re better off flying early in the morning before work rather then after work. Can you get a later shift?

No. It's client service corporate type work. Typical expectation is that we're in before the client 8 at the latest and leave after the client (usually around 7).

Best case scenario is that I work out an arrangement to be able to come in late (9) or leave early (5) at most once per week. I just don't have the flexibility to do things in "spare time" which is my main reason for wanting to make a career switch.

I'm lucky to be staffed on a project locally right now, but a more normal situation would be for me to not even be home for M-Th each week. If that was the case, training would become very very cumbersome, either consuming my entire weekends, and taking longer than would be ideal

How much money are you making now?

(I know such a question is typically rude to ask, but in the aviation world we speak openly about it)

No offense taken - nuclear was the same way. I'm at 115k with up to 18% bonus. Wife makes right under 100, so we could be fine with a period of low earnings on my side.

Coloring degree from GT doesn't count.
Go Dawgs!

(Sorry, just had to...) :D

I didn't realize they taught you to read at U(sic)GA :p

I left an engineering career to become a professional pilot. I was a few years younger than you, but still pretty close in age. Aviation is in my family, and I’ve been flying around in light planes since I was a kid. Still, I did as much flight training on the side as I could before leaving engineering. At the very least, get your PPL. When I was a flight instructor, I saw quite a few people that just knew they wanted to be professional pilots quit pretty early in the process. With your background that’s unlikely, but it’s cheap insurance.

Im doing the whole career change pilot thing right now. Im a bit older, hitting 40 soon, but as many have mentioned get your ppl first.

Management consulting if it's a steady 3 to 4 month assignment, I'd ask my boss if I could take fridays off for travel to and from (I have a few management consultant friends that fo this regularly), and take lessons on the weekend. Its only 50 flight hours for your ppl, mostly academics really. Get your PPL first and decide if you're really doing this all the way or not, i.e. is this a hobby or a career?

After your PPL if you want to go full time buy a plane to get you through instrument and commercial.

Good luck, find your bliss man.

OP,

I agree with everyone else, get your private first while keeping your job. No need to rush the career change.

I'm just a few years younger than you but in the middle of that process myself. Spent the last year and a half finishing my Instrument, Commercial and CFI while working my full time engineering job.

By the way, I also live in Atlanta and work as a CFI at PDK (part-time for now but about to go all in). In your situation and given your background, I would advise against ATP. There are some much better and cheaper alternatives around. Pm me if you have any questions regarding flight training in the Atlanta area. Happy to help. I'd also be curious to know where you're going for your intro flight!

Cool. As others have said, go get your private and see if you like it, then make the big push if you want to move forward.

115K is a fine salary, but the good news is that regional captains are doing that or better these days, so if there's a hiccup in the major hiring and you end up stuck at a regional for longer than expected, it won't be a financial disaster.

Keep your day job OP and fly around it. A bad economy, war, etc. will change a lot in the aviation industry overnight.

Step 1 is to get your first class medical. Pay as you go - don’t borrow.

A private flight school could be up to half as much as a place like ATP.

You’re definitely not too old. Good luck!

Tired Soul and Eco are pretty much spot-on.


As an ex-nuke, I would like add a few points for your consideration.
As has been stated: Get at least your private pilot license before making any big career decisions. If possible, get all the way through your commercial before making the decision to go for it.


It will likely take longer and be more expensive than you initially estimate..weather, schedules, and life in general.


However, in my opinion, if you can find a good Part 61 school that is actually invested in teaching you and getting you finished, you can control some of the money/time issues, IF you are committed.
Beware of the school that wants to keep you on the hamster wheel of pay pay pay...you're almost ready..a few more hours...maybe next week..etc



It can be done, but it's not always a smooth path.


ATP is expensive and the training might be at a faster pace than what you are used to as a nuke. However, you made it through Operator training and you're young, so you MIGHT be okay.
Good Luck Sir.

I would say stay away from ATP. They have a spaghetti against the wall approach top check rides. The instructors really could care less.

As a guy going through it now I would say find a 141 school with an approved program that gets you through fast and a dpe on staff. See what their pass rate is as a school, this is all public info. Make sure you're comfortable with your instructor and hopefully you get someone with some seasoning at that school.

If you go 61 once again look up their pass rates etc.

I'd look for a mom and pop shop. Usually a few here and there with retired military or airline pilots. Guys with 30 plus years of experience.

If this trade war picks up steam it'll put a wrinkle in aviation demand but from what I gather the international demand for pilots is at an all time high with not enough people in the pipeline, military of civilian, globally.

Also after doing starting this career change personally, don't do it for the money, do it because you live to fly or you will eventually fail. Money is better is management consulting long run if you're any good. If you're mid tier then economics long run roughly the same with a pilot working to 65 vs management consulting to 50.

I will chime in with my situation/experience since it is somewhat similar to yours.

I work for in the construction management field. We are an owner's rep. I have always had a desire to become a pilot but never really considered it to be plausible. Now I make enough money to pay for training and pay for entry level pilots has improved. I am 30 years old and recently married. Wife is on board with me pursuing a career in flying. I work typically 8-5, sometimes 8-7. I am trying to adjust my schedule as best I can to fly at least 3-4 days per week. Typically booking flights for the evenings (5 p.m. - 7 p.m.) with a few morning flights (7 a.m. -9 a.m.)

I am training at a part 141 school (Only 5 minutes from my house) They use King Schools for their ground school. (Online program. I like better than books, because they have a lot of good videos and I am a visual learner). My plan is to work full time while doing all of my training (do not have the funds to not) and once I have completed my CFI, try to get hired at my flight school.

Like others have said here, you should really try to get your PPL first before leaving your job. That way you have a better and more realistic idea on how much you actually like flying, natural aptitude, etc.


Good luck!

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Really appreciate everyone’s responses! I stopped getting email notifications, so I though the responses died off. So much good info here. Lots to think about in the mean time, but am glad to have the wife on board and will be visiting a few local flight schools this weekend.

My thought is that there will always be unknowns.

Outside of doing the form online and scheduling the first appointment, what do I need for the first class? So I need to bring copies of my charts from the past XX years? I don’t have any disqualifying conditions, but have been to the Dr for checkups and the flu over the past couple years. Do they need documentation of that, or just to disclose it?

I’m lucky to have the cash banked to pay for it in one fell swoop, and if I choose to go this route, part of me wants to knock it out over the course of 9 months and get in line whether it’s through atp, part 61/141, mom and pop, cadet academy, etc.

I can’t stand the thought of being in this job another 2 years while I work around it and stretch out training. If I end up not pursuing aviation, I’ll still be looking for something else to do.

As someone who is currently where you are, I would say to do what everyone here is saying. Get going on the PPL first. You have to see if you really like this flying thing. You're going to have VERY hard days, then you'll have some good ones, then another set of hard days. I currently work full time, and I'm going to pull the trigger on leaving after I complete my Comm. Multi Add-On. I'm going to go the CFI route then.

You will have dissenting opinions on whether you should go part 61 mom & pop/ATP or similar, or part 141-flight academy/university track. It's solely based on your learning style. I've been in a very structured environment my entire adult life as a cop, so the 61 didn't work for me. I needed clearly set goals and expectations/track. So I switched schools to a part 141. There's plenty of people who do just fine in part 61 training. They have good instructors and schools. That wasn't my experience. So, I recognized it early on, and made the change. I'm glad I did. Explore the two and decide from there. my 2 cents. Good luck.

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